When Ned and I first started dating he had been widowed barely a year. I remember being so nervous the first night I slept over at his house that I just couldn't sleep. After all, I was in another woman's home, even though she was dead. The house had been arranged to suit her. She had selected all the drapery, the carpets, and the furniture. Ned had taken her photographs from the walls and the dresser, and yet I still felt uneasy.
Somehow I got through that first night. I actually relaxed a little. Since his home was in the country and spacious, and mine was nothing more than a one room studio apartment, Ned and I agreed that we would spend our week-ends together at his house.
One night I woke to see a short, red headed woman standing at the dresser. She calmly stared at me a moment then turned and left the room.
"Wake up!" I demanded of Ned.
"Someone's in the house!"
Ned jumped out of bed and made a thorough search of the home, being careful to check the doors and windows.
"There's no one in the house but us" he said, sliding back into bed.
"I saw a woman right there at the dresser." I insisted.
"Only a dream." He said sleepily.
We'd been hiking in the nearby hills that day so both of us were exhausted. It didn't take me long to convince myself that the woman had indeed been only a dream. And off to sleep I fell.
Weeks went by and I forgot all about the woman in my dream. Then one Sunday morning Ned's son arrived on the doorstep for a short visit.
As we sat down to breakfast, the young man asked if Ned would give him the large photograph of his mother that had once hung over the mantel in the living room.
I felt no discomfort because it was clear that he asked without rancor. He merely wanted the photograph of his mother. Ned agreed to give it to him later.
That afternoon Ned walked into the living room with the large photo and handed it to his son. Curiosity got the better of me so I stood up and looked at the photo. My breath caught in my throat when I realized that the red headed woman in the photograph was the same woman I'd seen standing by the dresser weeks ago.
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